THE BEAT: SOUTH & SOUTHWEST - AROUND SOUTH COOK AND WILL COUNTIES

Police chief's other title: Author

April 03, 2005

LANSING — Police Chief Dan McDevitt said he has no illusions about being the next Joseph Wambaugh. But McDevitt, 55, shares a title with the former Los Angeles police officer who parlayed his work on the streets into a career as an author.

McDevitt's new book, "Managing the Investigative Unit," is not lighting the literary world on fire. The training manual draws on his more than 25 years of crime-fighting experience.

"The reason I wrote it was because I made some mistakes, and if you can share those with other people, they won't have to learn the hard way," he said.